Finger acquires Michelo Robotics for $11.2M

The deal covers a 79.48% stake, bought from existing holders including CEO Park Jang-jun. It equals 23.64% of Finger's total assets. Three key shareholders will put ₩2B each into a Finger third-party rights offering, and those shares are locked up for three years. Existing management stays in place after closing. The purchase was planned when Finger raised ₩110B in April.

The target is small. Revenue was ₩429M in 2024 and ₩1.268B in 2025, while customers grew from 12 to 25 by August. It posted a ₩647M loss last year. Revenue is projected to exceed ₩3B this year. The price is roughly 12.6 times 2025 revenue. Its software learns from skilled workers' data to automate painting, sanding, polishing and deburring. Finger has since agreed to buy SeAH FSI, and said it will use that plant's mass-production lines to validate Michelo's inspection automation.

For AI founders, the buyer is the notable part: a fintech and enterprise IT firm paid up for a physical AI startup. Acquirers with factory access and data infrastructure may value narrow, hard-to-automate process skills over broad robotics platforms. Retaining founders through equity lockups is also becoming a standard way to structure such exits.